Flying-boat.



G. L. MARTIN.

FLYING BOAT.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 3. IBM.

1,239,5UQ PatentedSept. 11, 1917.

4 SHEETSSHEET l.

Mafia eases;

G. L. MARTIN.

FLYING BOAT.

APPLICATION HLED FEB. 3, 1914.

Patented Sept. 11, 1917.

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G. L. MARTIN.

FLYING BOAT.

APPLICATION FILED FEB-3.1914.

67622221 Ma tin.

G. L. MARTIN.

FLYING BOAT.

APPLICATION HLED FEB.3,1914- 1,239,500., PatentedSept. 11,1917.

4 SHEETSSHEET 4.

U ens PATENT anion.

GLENN L. MARTIN, 0F LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO GLENN L. MTIN COMPANY, 0]? LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION 0F CALIFORNIA.

FLYING-BOAT.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 1111, 1917,,

Application filed February 3, 1914. Serial No. 816,240.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GLENN L. MARTIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the'cou'nty of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Flying-Boats, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to flying boats, or tovessels for navigating both air and water; and it has particular reference to the hull' or body of such vessel and its formation and organization or equipment, with particular respect to the alterations of the same for particular adaptation for aerial or aquatic service, or both, and landing. In accordance with present practice, flying machines are rendered buoyant for aquatic use, or for sustentation both by air and water, byattaching to the ordinary frame or fuselage a pontoon or float, or a plurality of the same, which thus constitute the hulls of the resultant aquatic or semi-aquatic structure. In other words, the aerial vessel simply has added to it buoyant bodies which permit the flotation of the vessel either at rest or in motion. These pontoons or floats are ordinarily attached to the running gear or landing gear.. In accordance with the present invention I provide a flying machine having a hull designed along -the lines of marine architecture. I provide a false bottom for thesame the stream lines of which supplement those of the hull and which carries a landing gear, such as a skid and wheels. I

further provide a float or pontoon which conforms also to the design of the hull and which, when attached thereto, becomes a composite part thereof and the design thereof. The float or pontoon, constituting a sup lemental hull or hull portion, is applied to t e main hull or body in substitution for the false bottom and the landing gear, or the major portion of the landing gear. The flying machine is thus converted from one adapted for landing upon the ground to one adapted for landing upon and traversing the water, although still capable, when necessary, of making a ground landing. All of the working parts of the flymg machine are installed in or upon the main bull or body, with the exception of such portions of the means of propulsion and aerlal sustentation as necessarily PI'OJGCi? above the a same for proper presentation to. the air. It

results that I have obtained a flying machine with a low center of gravity, whether equipped particularly for ground landing or more particularly for aquatic service, which has great stability, when equipped as last mentioned, in or upon the water, and traverses the same with a minimum of resistance, and which likewise takes the air readily and with relatively slight head re sistance, and has proper stability therein. I further provide means whereby the flyin machine may be safely and without shoc' brought to rest upon the land when equipped more particularly for aquatic service.

The false bottom and pontoon or float each constitute a detachable of separable portion ofthe hull or main body of the boat, so that the hull or mainbody is in effect split up into two parts. This I believe to be entirely novel in machines or vessels of this character, and the great advantage attaches that in the event of any injury to such detachable portion of the hull or main body, repair or substitution thereof or therefor may be made Without dismantling or in any way altering or taking apart the upper portion or main I hull or body. Thus, all of the working parts of the flying machine may remain intact upon the main hull or body during such repair or replacement. Furthermore, such lower or detachable hull portion serves as a protection to the main hull or body, receiving all the impact or blow incident to any untoward engagement of the detachable portion-of the hull or body with the water, land, or any object or obstacle.

With the above and other general and particular features entering into the embodi useful provision, combination, and association of parts, members and features, all as hereinafter described, shown in the drawings', and finally pointed out in claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a flying boat constructed and organized to embody the invention, the same being shown as equipped for either aerial or aquatic service, or both, and to facilitate and make safe landing upon the ground;

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse sectional view of the same, taken upon the line a1 -a: Fig. 1, and looking in the direction of the appended arrow;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail elevation of a portion of the safety landing device shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the pontoon and boat body in close contact, or without any intervening space such as shown in the preceding figures;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the pontoon in detached position;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing a portion of the landing gear shown in Figs. 8 and 9 on the main hull and associated with the pontoon;

Fig. 7 is a detail vertical transverse sectional view taken upon the line w -w Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the landing gear and false bottom applied to the main boat hull in substitution for the pontoon or auxiliary hull shown applied thereto in Figs. 1 and 6; and

Fig. 9 is a detail transverse vertical sectional view taken upon the line m -w, Fig. 8.

Corresponding parts in all the figures are designated by the same reference characters.

Referring with particularity to the drawings, A designates the hull or body of my improved flying boat, and B and C the supporting surfaces of the same which cooperate with the air for sustentation 'in flying, or for partial sustentation in combined aquatic and aerial travel. D designates the detachable float or pontoon; E designates the balancing tail, and F designates the rudder. These surfaces B, C, E and F do not enter specifically into the factors of the invention, and are organized in accordance with preference or the particular requirements of service. G designates the landing device which is provided on'the float D,

which may be considered an auxiliary hull,

and which facilitates safe landing upon the ground. H designates the false bottom and I designates the landing gear associated therewith and both adapted for detachable connection with the main hull A. designates a portion of the landing gear which preferably remains upon the main hull when the pontoon D is substituted for the remaining portions of the landing gear I and the false bottom H, when such landing gear is used. In Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive no such landin gear element It is shown, the landing device G alone being employed.

. The hull or body A is constructed to conform in its contour and lines and curvatures with hulls of marine vessels, having a cock-pit a within which the navigator or pilot takes his position, a tapering counter 6 beneath the rearwardly projecting portion of the hull, and a tapering prow or bow 7. The forward portion of the hull is inclosed or housed, as at 8, to contain the motorand other equipment; and a narrow deck or runway 9 extends at the sides of the body, from the prow 7 rearwardly almost to the counter 6, and from which depends at each side a weather-board 10. The float or pontoon D, which constitutes the auxiliary hull, is detachably applied to the hull or fuselage A, beneath the same, and within the confines of its general conformation, and within the weather-boards 10, suitable means of detachable connection 11 being applied to the pontoon at the top thereof. The pontoon is slightly spaced, at its top, from the bottom of the hull A, as shown in all the figures but Fig. 4, and into this interspace passes low and narrow keels or skids 13 which take the ground in landing and which likewise cooperate with the water in aquatic travel, for the usual purposes.

In Fig. 4 the float is shown in intimate contact with and up close against the hull A, without any appreciable interspace, which may be preferable under certain conditions of service. In Fig. 5 the pontoon or float is shown as detached and separated from the main hull or body at the means of connection 11. The landing device G consists of a wheel or wheels 14: rotatable upon a shaft 15 guided for upward and downward or slightly inclined play in brackets or arms 16 fixed to the forward end of the float D, upward movement of such shaft being opposed by compression springs 17 mounted in or upon such. arms 16. Braces 18 extend from the lower or outer. end ofsuch arm 16 to the float D.

The structure of the float, which preferably extends from the prow 7 rearwardly of the hull A to and under the counter 6 thereof, and the structure of the hull or body A, is of any preferred nature, lightness and rigidity and strength being the main desiderata.

IVith the parts and features assembled as 4 shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4the flying boat can take either the air or the water, and when brought to the ground makes first contact through the landing gear wheel or wheels 14 which cases and smoothes the termination of motion, the entire boat with its pontoon being brought to rest upon the ground when such motion has been approximatelydiscontinued. The skids 13 frictionally bring the boat to rest. When the pontoon is detached, as shown in Fig. 5, the flying boat is organized for traversing the air, and may even be caused to alight and float upon or traverse smooth water if of suflicien't buoyancy. The lines of the hull A and of the auxiliary hull or pontoon D particularly adapt the flying boat for navigation of either the air or the water or both with relative slight head resistance, due to the lines and conformations thereof; and when the boat with the pontoon are upon the water the pontoon effectively floats the entirety, and permits it to proceed under propulsion after the fashion of a marine vessel, with great stability and ease and subject to complete control, even under adverse conditions of wind and wave. By manipulating the securing means 11 or the equivalent, the pontoon may readily be attached or removed as conditions of service or storage may make expedient or desirable. The weather-boards 1O prevent the wash and waves from violent invasion of the interspace between the hull and pontoon, which interspace, as stated, permits out-flowing through the cock-pit floor of any water shipped by the hull A.

The supporting surfaces B, G and E are properly proportioned and placed to produce the highest stability and the proper balance of the flying boat, the supporting surfaces 13 and C being positioned substantially amidship, and the landing gear G is positioned well forward of said last-mentioned surfaces.

To adapt the flying machine more particularly for landing upon the ground, the landing means T are employed,consisting of a skid 19 attached to and beneath the false bottom H by a plurality of, preferably V- shaped, struts 20, such false bottom and landing means being adapted to be applied to and beneath the main hull A, and detachably connected therewith by the connection means 11. At the forward end of the skid is provided a landing wheel 21, and the skid ranges rearwardly past the center of the flying boat. A further feature consists of spaced hangers 22 at the sides of the main hull A, and detachably connected therewith, as at 23, and which support side landing wheels 24: between which the pontoon D is disposed when applied to the bottom of the hull A, a suitable tension device holding the wheels and hangers 22 against lateral dis placement, such tension device being shown as consisting of a parted shaft 25, the ends of which are joined by a spring 26 which may, with parts of the shafts, be accommodated within the pontoon D. These wheels,

which cooperate with the landing device G, may of course be dispensed with if preferred.

The false bottom H and landing gear I, either with or without the element I), may readily be detached through the manipulation of the means of connection 11, from the hull A; and the pontoon D may be substituted. for these parts, for aquatic service, either with or without the landing gear element is, as respectively shown in Figs. 1 and 6.

It will be noted that the invention permits the flying machine to be equipped for landing either upon the water, and for traversing the same, or upon the land, the landing gear I permitting the machine to be readily started upon the land. The flying boat may even be started upon the land by using the landing device G and the landing gear element is. These two features assist in landing in soft or muddy ground, the landing device G preventing the nose of the flying boat from plunging and burrowing.

The entire construction and combination and mode of application and arrangement 95 and attachment of parts and features provide a flying boat highly equipped for service either in the air or upon the water or both, and which may readily be adapted with particular reference to the kind of 100 service to which it is to be put. At the same time the flying boat is attractive and pleasing in appearance, and by its general design conforms with accepted principles and standards of boat architecture.

While no particular construction or character is specified with respect to the spacers 12 between the main body or hull and the buoyant body or pontoon, it is manifest that within the scope of the invention these spac- 110 ers may be so constituted as to interpose resilience between the hull and pontoon, and may thus act as shock absorbers to cushion the flying boat in landing upon the water or the land.

I wish to particularly emphasize the importance of that feature of the invention which consists in the facility and speed with which the pontoon may be detached from the hull or main body of the boat. Acci- 120 dents and damage frequently necessitate such substitution, for purposes of repair and vention; and I therefore do not desire that the invention be unduly limited in construing the same.

Having thus disclosed my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A flying boat, comprising a main elongated body provided with means for sustaining the same in flight, and a detachable elongated buoyant body applied to and be neath the same and conforming generally in transverse dimensions to those of the said main body; means being disposed between said main body and said buoyant body producing an interspace between the same; said main body being provided with a bottom I opening leading to said interspace. I

2. A flying boat, comprising a main elongated body provided with means for sustaining the same in flight, and a detachable elongated buoyant body applied to and beneath the same and conforming generally in transverse dimensions to those of the said main body; means being disposed between said main body and said buoyant body producing an interspace between the same; said main body being provided with a bottom opening leading to said interspace, and weatherboards being provided upon said main body at the sides of the same and over-hanging the said interspace.

.3. A flying boat, comprising a main body or hull elongated in form and provided with a tapered prow and with a tapered counter, means for sustaining the hull or body in flight, and a detachable pontoon applied to said hull or body beneath the same and extending longitudinally thereof and to said counter; said main body and said pontoon having stream lines conforming in general to those of an aquatic vessel.

4. A flying boat, comprising a main elongated body provided with means for sustaining the same in flight; a detachable elongated buoyant body, and detachable alighting means; and means for detachably securing either of the same to the main elongated body in substitution for the other; said elongated buoyant body conforming generally in transverse dimensions to those of the main body.

5. A flying boat, comprising a main elongated body provided with means for sustaining the same in flight; a detachable elongated buoyant body, and detachable alighting means; and means for detachably securing either of the same to the main elongated body in substitution for the other; said elongated buoyant body conforming generally in transverse dimensions to those of the main body; and said alighting means being provided with a false bottom for said main elongated body. p

6. A flying boat, comprising a main elon-' gated hull-like body provided with means for sustaining the same in flight, a detachable false bottom for the same, and conform ing generally in lines thereto, and detachable landing means for the same.

7 A flying boat, comprising a main elongated hull-like body provided with means for sustaining the same in flight, a detachable false bottom for the same and conforming generally-in lines thereto, and detachable landing means for the same; said landing means and said false bottom being jointly detachable from said main elongated body.

8. A flying boat, comprising a main elongated body provided with means for sustaining the same in flight; a detachable elongated buoyant body conforming generally in lines to the main body and constitutin a nether extension of the same, detachable alighting means, and means for detachably securing either of the same to the main elongated body in substitution for the other.

9. A flyin boat, comprising a main buoyant body or liull provided with a detachable nether portion constituting an extension thereof and adapted in entirety to traverse the water, and means detachably holding such hull portions together.

10. A flying boat, comprising a main buoyant body or hull provided with a detachable nether portion constituting an extension thereof and adapted in entirety to traverse the water, and means detachably holding such hull portions together; means being provided upon the upper portion of such body or hull for sustaining the entirety in 1 flight.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. A

-' GLENN L. MARTIN.

Witnesses:

ALFRED H. DAEHLER, W. F. 000K. 

